Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - October 13, 2000
Between 800,000 and 1 million healthcare workers are accidentally stuck by a needle each year. Once stuck, contracting hepatitis C, HIV and many other diseases becomes a possibility. This is the deadly prospect that healthcare workers face everyday when they go to work.
On October 3, 2000, The House of Representatives unanimously voted to pass HR 5178, The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act. This act requires the use of safer medical devices that reduce or eliminate accidental needlesticks.
To realize how important safety needle legislation is to healthcare workers, you must first put yourself in their place. Imagine seeing an injured person being wheeled into the emergency room. You give them a shot, trying to save their life, not thinking about the possibility that you might lose your own in the process. Once you pull the needle out someone bumps into you. The needle that you just pulled out then goes into your own arm and you have now possibly contracted a deadly disease.
But when will you know? If the victim in the emergency room is tested and they have HIV, you most likely will not know if you are going to suffer the same fate until at least six months later. The anxiety of waiting months to hear their fate causes some healthcare workers to quit their job, even if they are not infected. If they are, they will soon have to give up the profession they may love.
Why should healthcare workers contract deadly diseases on the job? They shouldn't and a company called Medi-Hut, Inc. is doing something about it. Medi-Hut manufactures its own patented brand anti-stick safety syringe to prevent accidental needlesticks.
"We are extremely pleased to see this bill pass the House. Protecting our nation's healthcare workers from such deadly diseases as HIV and Hepatitis C is of prime importance," said Joseph Sanpietro, President of Medi-Hut.
Medi-Hut's safety syringe is unique in the fact that it uses a passive, one-handed technique. The syringe incorporates a transparent sleeve into which the needle automatically retracts after use.
Sanpietro sums up the most important fact by stating that "Implementing this act will put much needed safety devices into the hands of all healthcare workers across the nation, and offer each of them piece of mind."
SOURCE Columbia Financial Group Web Site: http://www.columbiafinancialgroup.com
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